Brian Garland, the model’s layout steward, said: “It took us four years to make it and since then we’ve taken it all over the country.”

But it’s not easy, said the 69-year-old: “When we take it out we need to maintain it and repair damage. We often have to rope in ex-members to help out. It takes effort as it’s not always plain sailing. We often say that this is the last time we’re going to take it out but then get persuaded to bring it out of storage again.”

The model last appeared at the Abingdon Model Railway Show seven years ago.

Show organiser Mike Ryder said: “It’s an interesting model for people who care about the railways of Oxfordshire.”

The model’s track plan and signals are all correct for the period 1938, and trains run to a 45 minute recorded commentary. This is the 38th annual show in Abingdon. Previous shows have had up to 1,900 visitors.

Mr Ryder said: “It’s the biggest show in Oxfordshire. We will have 53 stands and 23 layouts from all around the southern counties.”

The Abingdon Model Railway Show is on Saturday, March 1 at the White Horse Tennis and Leisure Centre in Audlett Drive from 10am to 5pm. Tickets are £8 adults, under-16s free.

PIECE OF HISTORY

THE LMS station, built on the site of Rewley Abbey in 1851, was operated by the former London, Midland & Scottish (LMS) Railway, a separate company from the Great Western Railway (GWR).

The station, pictured above in its heyday, was removed in 1999 to make way for the Saïd Business School and re-erected at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre in Quainton as a working museum in December 2000.

A metal plaque is set into the pavement in Frideswide Square, outside the Saïd Business School, to commemorate the LMS station.

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